Millions of people already accessed to the information leaked by Julian Assange

Assange's Wikileaks opened the Pandora Box! Some want it close! Amazing story, this "Cablegate!" Astonishing! Unless the questions are asked about intentional inaction of the American Executive to stop the leaks. The first military power, financial and electronic world trapped and forced to drown politically, through incompetence, irresponsibility and paralysis because of a bunch of online activists? Or is it that the U.S. administration perceives a benefit by inaction and let the world focus on somber episodes of former administrations?

How could Assange breached the most guarded and privileged information that exist on earth? Besides, the US geopolitical position has remain unchanged since these exposures despite the embarrassments... To let the State Dept lose its credibility, such a monument, it appears as a political act. And the more it goes, the more the cables identify policies implemented during the sulphuric Bush presidencies. Now, about 750 mirror sites have sprung up to help WikiLeaks continue to publish its leaks of sensitive U.S. documents. It is not only a matter of sympathetic supporters of Internet Journalism or Mad Max of transparency.

The latest revelations came on a day that saw hackers sympathetic to WikiLeaks and targeted Master Card and Visa over their decision to block payments to the whistle-blowers' website, after Amazon and PayPal. Interesting enough Facebook and Twitter are not removing WikiLeaks!

Meanwhile, the U.S. and its allies have taken measures to interrupt WikiLeaks' activities. The French Industry Minister Eric Besson called for the site to be banned from French servers. Swiss bank announced it had frozen $41,000 in an account set up as a legal-defense fund for Assange.

Though, "there appears to be no statute that generally proscribes the acquisition or publication of diplomatic cables," the Secrecy News of the FAS writes today, according to a newly updated report from the Congressional Research Service, "although government employees who disclose such information without proper authority may be subject to prosecution."

But there is a thicket of statutes, most notably including the Espionage Act, that could conceivably be used to punish unauthorized publication of classified information, such as the massive releases made available by Wikileaks.

A previous version of the CRS report, issued in October, was just cited by Sen. Dianne Feinstein in a Wall Street Journal op-ed in support of prosecuting Wikileaks, though the report did not specifically advise such a course of action. Sen. Feinstein also seemed to endorse the view that the State Department cables being released by Wikileaks are categorically protected by the Espionage Act and should give rise to a prosecution under the Act.

But the Espionage Act only pertains to information "relating to the national defense," and only a minority of the diplomatic cables could possibly fit that description.

The new CRS report put it somewhat differently: "It seems likely that most of the information disclosed by WikiLeaks that was obtained from Department of Defense databases [and released earlier in the year] falls under the general rubric of information related to the national defense. The diplomatic cables obtained from State Department channels may also contain information relating to the national defense and thus be covered under the Espionage Act, but otherwise its disclosure by persons who are not government employees does not appear to be directly proscribed.

It is possible that some of the government information disclosed in any of the three releases does not fall under the express protection of any statute, despite its classified status."

The CRS report concludes that any prosecution of Wikileaks would be unprecedented and challenging, both legally and politically. "We are aware of no case in which a publisher of information obtained through unauthorized disclosure by a government employee has been prosecuted for publishing it. There may be First Amendment implications that would make such a prosecution difficult, not to mention political ramifications based on concerns about government censorship." Unquote.

Time writes, quote: "In the U.S., officials are finding that while there were certainly structural reasons like expanded technology and over-classification behind the theft of the leaked documents, practical reasons were equally important. Thanks to an imperative from then commander of the U.S. Central Command David Petraeus and others to share information with allies on improvised explosive devices and other threats, the Central Command allowed the downloading of data from its secret in-house network, SIPRNet, to removable storage devices, officials tell Time. The information was then carried to computers linked to secret networks used by allies and uploaded. The process was derisively called "sneaker net," because it was so inefficient, although it replaced the prior need to manually retype all information into the allied computers. Unquote.

The worst scenario would be new restrictions on the use of Internet but apparently no-one can do it today and this is the real victory that Assange and his fellow colleagues of WikiLeaks are trying to demonstrate. One can punish a traitor who grabs data he should not within his service duties but it can't be the messenger who publish them who is to be jailed. Otherwise there is a word to describe such act and it does not fit the language used by Democracies.

Wednesday, December 08, 2010

Asian Gazette Blog doubled the number of readers compared to a year ago! Transparency... here is the result of regular posts with today's release of comments made by readers of Asian Gazette --readers on increase with the use of smart-phones, IPod and IPad-- According to the famous expression nowadays, this is a "journalistic selection" regarding the topics covered, quoted, re-posted or commented here; and I post it "brut de décoffrage". The most obvious lessons of contemporary journalism underline the principle which is that transparency represents the first really sustained fruit born with the digital age. And as always, I am aware and concerned with access to information as a principal (based on the spirit of the United Nations peers) with the inherent responsibilities and consequences attached to any data publication. Thank you for your faithful encouragement and comments.

Not all of secret documents should be published. If a country has some secret dealing with an another one, and it doesn't want opposing diplomats to know about it, it should keep it secret. That's just my opinion, though.

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By Iceland Hotels on France branded as "No.1 tourism destination" on 3/31/10

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By emily on Was ITER linked to the Iraq debt by France? on 9/13/05

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By alex on Re : Was ITER linked to the Iraq debt by France? on 9/8/05

Japanese textbook rarely usedJapan's nationalist "New HistoryTextbook" is fueling the deepestebb in Japan-China relations indecades, but few Japanese studentshave ever read it.Though given away for free, thetext is used by only 18 juniorhigh schools -- out of 11,102junior highs in all of Japan. Ithas been denounced by the nation'sleading teacher's union, and iswell right of mainstream publicopinion.Outside of Japan's classrooms,however, the textbook is anythingbut obscure.Since it was first approved by agovernment screening panel fouryears ago, the text has beensingled out by Japan's neighborsas evidence that the country istrying to whitewash its militaristpast.And its unrepentant tone andomission of Japan's wartimeatrocities -- including germwarfare and the forcing of tens ifnot hundreds of thousands of womeninto prostitution -- have outragedmany Japanese educators andliberals.It is See more...

By A on Rarely-Read Book Inspires Japan-China Rift on 4/17/05

Isn't' it bizarre to see that demonstrators can strike wherever they want in such country as China? Is the old CCP guards still angry at Huand Wen and infuriated at Japan UNSC attempt. Are these strikes "political activities" pre-organized. Police closed to the crowds. Anyone arrested ? Are Universities there underlecturing by Party promising activists. Japanese mediacoverage was quite a surprise too. This piece from the CSM is quite interesting on the contrary: Quotes :"Take a big knife and chopoff head of Japanese devil."Not since 1985, when the then Japanese prime minister visited the Yasukuni Shrine, has Beijing allowed such a demonstration. While described as aspontaneous rally, theorganized nature of the Saturday protest seemed apparent to some observers. Areas for press, protesters,and riot police were tapedoff. Movement was carefully organized: crowds were sent past the See more...

By A on Deadly Bird Flu Could Spread Beyond Asia on 4/11/05

Comment: Sure, the evidence against Asaka is pretty flimsy and it would be a mistake to hold him completely responsible for what happened in Nanjing at the end of 1937 and the start of the new year. Matsui is equally or more culpable, although it is also hard to apportion total blame. The events of the Rape of Nanjing appear to a large degree to have been spontaneous and self-perpetuating; a rolling, uncontrollable and hysterical killing spree under an imperial seal. Something like the massacres that occurred in Rwanda in 1994. But Asaka is here as a symbol of the culture that spawned the terrible events at Nanjing and elsewhere in Asia and the Pacific during the 1930s and 40s. The dangerous convergence of the imperial and the military. That Japan remains reluctant to admit the wrongs of the past and apologise diminishes its claim to have been the last victim of the Second World War. Sources : http://www.moreorless.au.com/

By A on Taiwan : 2015 Peak Oil, eternal distress and histo... on 3/6/05

Allied POWS Under The Japanese Roger Mansell - Director 199 First Street, Suite 335 Los Altos CA 94022 (USA) Tel: 650-941-2037 Main Page : You MUST type this address out for e-mailing Graphic image is used to avoid spammers This site is entirely sponsored by Roger Mansell, Palo Alto, California. All information is "Copyrighted by Roger Mansell". Please attribute source as noted or acknowledge the source as Roger Mansell, Palo Alto, CA. Many pictures also have high resolution files for printing purposes. Simply ask web master for a free download or CD. Please: Be sure to click "RELOAD" each time you visit- Many changes made almost daily. WARNING: You may NOT, repeat, NOT copy these pages and present them on any other web site that indicates in ANY way that it is your work product without specific permission. You may link to these pages to your heart's content. Don't even think of copying this information and presenting it as yours. All material is available for you See more...

By A on 60 years after defeat : Has Japan Addressed Its Wa... on 2/17/05

Former spy claims Australian government covered up Iraq prisoner abuse A former Australian spy contradicted government claims that no Australian was involved in interrogating Iraqi prisoners, saying he himself witnessed and reported the alleged abuse of Iraqis by their US captors. Rod Barton, a former senior analyst for the Defense Intelligence Organisation (DIO) and a long-time Iraq weapons inspector, said he personally interrogated an Iraqi detainee at Camp Cropper, a US center which held so-called "high value" prisoners. "Someone was brought to me in an orange jumpsuit with a guard with a gun standing behind him," Barton told Four Corners, a news program to be broadcast later Monday on Australian Broadcasting Corporation television. "Of course I didn't pull any fingernails out but I think it's misleading to say no Australians were involved, I was involved," he said. Last year after revelations that US soldiers were abusing Iraqis in Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison, the Australian See more...

By A on Nakasone seeks revision of Constitution, calls for... on 1/21/05

A photo of the event here : http://asia.news.yahoo.com/050110/afp/i-050110210754top.html

By A on The European Airbus A380 super-jumbo revealed in F... on 1/11/05

So much for a country who stated publicly to be closed to the protection of nature, one entire part of the Asia Pacific community, and who lectured other nations on human rights...

By A on Chemical war : New Zealand confirms supplying Ag... on 1/9/05

Thanks for posting this! For those who want to help out... I have added some Christian mission relief links to: www.heartformissions.net

By Paul on Thousands killed by earthquake and tsunami in sout... on 12/30/04

Japanese government has decided to set up an experts panel to study the feasibility of allowing a woman to succeed to the Chrysanthemum throne by amending the Imperial House Law, government sources said Dec 27, 2004. The panel, to be made up of experts in law and other fields, will have its first meeting early next year, they said. Under the current law, only male heirs can succeed to the throne. However, no male heir has been born into the imperial family in almost 40 years.

By A on Japan's Emperor says He was shocked by his Son's r... on 12/27/04

A European rocket roared into space from a pad in South America on Saturday, placing into orbit a surveillance satellite billed as giving France's military new abilities to spy worldwide. The unmanned craft lifted off smoothly from a launch center in Kourou, French Guiana, at 1:36 p.m. - the third and last launch of an Ariane-5 rocket this year, Arianespace said. The satellite and six smaller scientific ones were placed into orbit about an hour after liftoff. It was the first time in 11 years that an Ariane rocket carried as many as seven satellites on a single launch. The Helios 2A military satellite, the rocket's main cargo, is to rotate in sun-synchronous orbit around 435 miles above the Earth, Arianespace said. "The success of the Helios 2A launch is a great step forward for our space policy," Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said at Ecole Militaire. "Mastering space is an imperative for tomorrow," she said, calling for greater space cooperation in Europe. The French See more...

By A on French Helios-II A, a new generation of military ... on 12/23/04

"Missile shield failure" USA Defense Department: the flight test failed on Wednesday as the interceptor missile did not launch from the Marshall Islands due to an "unknown anomaly," though the target missile carrying a mock warhead was successfully fired from Kodiak, Alaska. The failure could deal a heavy blow to the Bush administration, which plans to activate a rudimentary ground-based missile defense shield by the end of this year. The Japanese government has said the failure has had no impact on the planned Japan-U.S. joint missile shield development. Tokyo said the two countries are working on a different type of system that is much smaller in scale. Japan and the United States agreed in 1998 to engage in joint missile shield research after North Korea fired a ballistic missile over Japan earlier that year. The two countries are poised to move on to the development and production stages as last week Japan announced a relaxation of its arms exports control to enable sales of See more...

By A on French Helios-II A, a new generation of military ... on 12/19/04

"The U.S. government moved quickly Friday to refute a claim made by a leading North Korea expert that Washington has exaggerated its intelligence on North Korea's nuclear program as it did in the case of Iraq. The controversy was sparked by an article set to be published in the Dec. 17 issue of Foreign Affairs by Selig Harrison, who is director of the Asia Program and chairman of the Task Force on U.S.-Korean Policy at the Center for International Policy. "Relying on sketchy data, the Bush administration presented a worst-case scenario as an incontrovertible truth and distorted its intelligence on North Korea (much as it did in Iraq), seriously exaggerating the danger that Pyongyang is secretly making uranium-based nuclear weapons," Harrison writes in the article posted on the journal's website. Harrison also says the administration of President George W. Bush has failed to provide evidence to support the claims to China, Japan, South Korea and Russia -- its partners in the See more...

By A on Did North Korea Cheat? on 12/11/04

Prince Akishino, who turned 39 on Tuesday, expressed regret that his older brother Crown Prince Naruhito made remarks in May about the situation of Crown Princess Masako, who continues to recuperate from a stress-induced illness, without consulting Emperor Akihito. "I myself was surprised at the remarks in no small measure, and I heard the emperor was also very surprised," Prince Akishino said in reply to questions from the Imperial Household Agency press corps prior to his birthday. "I think he should only have made those remarks after first talking to the emperor about what he planned to say in his meeting with the press. So I think it's a pity," the prince said. Princess Masako's condition attracted media attention after the crown prince made unusually candid remarks for an imperial family member about her situation in May, saying, "There have been developments that have denied Masako's career as a diplomat as well as her personality." Accompanied by his wife Princess Kiko, See more...

By A on Covering Japan's Royals, according to Tony Mac Nic... on 11/30/04

Major economic powers agreed to write off US$31 billion (euro24 billion) of Iraqi debt in a major breakthrough for U.S.-led efforts to get Iraq's economy back on its feet. Months of intensive lobbying by Washington finally paid off when the other 18 members of the Paris Club agreed to wipe 80 percent of the US$39 billion (euro30 billion) that Iraq owes them. The cut represents about a quarter of Iraq's total international debt. But the three-stage deal announced Sunday also represents a significant concession by countries that opposed the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, such as France, Germany and Russia, which had expressed reluctance to forgive much more than half of Iraq's debt. French President Jacques Chirac said in June that going any further could be seen as unfair to poorer countries with heavy international liabilities but without Iraq's oil wealth. In a sign that a compromise was near, however, German Finance Minister Hans Eichel publicly endorsed an 80 percent write-off on See more...

By A on France reconstruction of Iraq on 11/22/04

A submarine that briefly intruded into Japanese waters last week was tracked by U.S. Navy P-3C patrol planes off Guam until it moved to waters near Okinawa, Japanese government sources said Tuesday. A Maritime Self-Defense Force helicopter tracks a submarine that entered Japanese waters last week some 300 km north-northwest of Miyako Island. Tokyo determined the sub to be Chinese and lodged a protest. On Tuesday, Beijing acknowledged it was a Chinese vessel and expressed regret over the incident. Based on the positional information obtained by the P-3Cs, which tracked the nuclear-powered sub from the Guam area, Maritime Self-Defense Force patrol planes dropped a sonobuoy for detecting submerged submarines and confirmed the vessel's location south of Ishigaki Island in Okinawa Prefecture early Nov. 9, the sources said. The submarine continued to travel submerged from the Guam area until MSDF planes and vessels stopped tracking it Friday in the East China Sea, they said. It is See more...

As of the end of July 2004 the Japanese navy had observed 30 Chinese vessels operating within Japan's claimed EEZ since the beginning of the year. None had observed the agreement of February 2001 that advance notice should be given to Japan, Professor Robyn Lim writes. I think I am correct in assuming that this is the first time that a nuclear-powered Han submarine, purchased from Russia, has been found to be engaging in such activities. China is presumably planning a blockade of Taiwan. It should not plan on the Japanese Navy remaining in port should it seriously contemplate such an option. With all the recent talk about Nanjing, Yasukuni etc, we also need to "Remember the Queenfish", because the Japanese Navy most assuredly has not forgotten it. (The US submarine that lurked in the Bashi Channel in the latter stages of WW2 and sank an inordinate amount of Japanese shipping.) A China in possession of Taiwan would have open access to the deep waters of the Pacific, and thus See more...

By A on Japan tested by China on submarine incursion on 11/16/04

Princess Sayako, the 35-year-old only daughter of the Japanese emperor, is set to marry a commoner and leave the imperial family, Japanese media said on Sunday. The princess, known informally as Nori, is engaged to marry a Tokyo local government official, 39-year-old Yoshiki Kuroda, next spring, the reports said. The couple both graduated from the private Gakushuin University in Tokyo, and share an interest in wildlife, media said. Nori, youngest of three children of Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko, spends part of her time working at an ornithology research institute. An official at the Imperial Household Agency said he could not comment on the reports before an official announcement, which has been delayed to late December out of consideration for victims of an earthquake in Niigata. A series of powerful tremors beginning on Oct. 23 have killed about 40 people, injured thousands and left many homeless in the region. Reports of the engagement come almost a year after Nori's See more...

By A on Japan Emperor say: no one should be forced to face... on 11/14/04

What led Iris Chang to the suicide? 01:37 2004-11-12 Iris Chang, a best-selling Chinese American author was found dead at the age of 36. She had been discovered in her car along Highway 17 just south of Los Gatos with a gunshot wound to her head, Santa Clara County authorities said on Wednesday. Authorities believe the injury was self-inflicted. Chang had recently been treated in hospital after suffering from depression. Chang was renowned for her books about the Japanese occupation of China as well as the history of Chinese immigrants in the US, as the BBC News reported. "I'm just shocked," said retired San Francisco Superior Court Judge Lillian Sing, who was helping Chang with a documentary on aging U.S. military veterans who had suffered as POWs in Japanese captivity during World War II. "She was a real woman warrior trying to fight injustice." Stunned friends and colleagues sought to understand what might have led to the suicide of an energetic and passionate young woman who See more...

By A on Iris Chang, a Chinese American writer found dead i... on 11/14/04

Shinkansen not safe? First-ever bullet train derailment reveals safety-system's limitations Japan Times says. The Toki No. 325 bullet train on the Joetsu Shinkansen Line was running at 210 kph when the first of a series of powerful quakes hit Niigata Prefecture shortly before 6 p.m. Saturday evening. A derailed bullet train lies askew Sunday on the Joetsu Shinkansen Line near Nagaoka Station in Niigata Prefecture. Although none of its 151 passengers were injured, the train was derailed -- the first time a bullet train left the tracks since such trains began running with the launch of the Tokaido Shinkansen Line in 1964. "The train was running normally, when suddenly it swayed badly, and I almost hit my face on the back of the seat in front of me," said Eiichi Nakamura, 59, a company worker from the city of Niigata. Japan's railway engineers have taken great pride in the shinkansen system's record of no major accidents. But Saturday's quakes showed that even the shinkansen See more...

By A on Japanese Prime Minister enjoys movie festival whil... on 10/25/04

According to Sankei Shimbun on October 9, 2004, the Chinese People's Liberation Army has deployed 10,000 troops to three areas near the Duman River, the border between China and North Korea, in order to prevent North Korean troops from escaping in groups from North Korea on October 4. The Sankei also recently reported that 30,000 Chinese troops have been deployed near the Aprok River along the border starting early this month. In particular, it is remarkable that these kinds of troop movements could arise from rumors of the possibility that armed North Korean troops might be escaping in groups from North Korea. Article: http://tinylink.com/?aWQsT9kW8g http://english.donga.com/srv/service.php3?biid=2004101179748

By A on South Korean MP reports US military attack capabil... on 10/11/04

By A on RSF states: French equipment jam foreign broadcast... on 10/9/04

French officials were prepared to provide as many as 15,000 troops for an invasion of Iraq before relations soured between Washington and Paris over the timing of an attack, according to a new book published in France this week. According to the book, Chirac Contre Bush: L'Autre Guerre (Chirac Versus Bush: The Other War), France's General Jean Patrick Gaviard visited the Pentagon in December 2002, three months before the war began, to discuss a contribution of 10,000 to 15,000 troops and to negotiate landing and docking rights for French jets and ships. Military officials in France were interested in joining in an attack because they felt that not participating with the United States in a major war would leave French forces unprepared for future conflicts, according to Mr Thomas Cantaloube, one of the authors. But the negotiations had not progressed far before French President Jacques Chirac decided that the US was pushing too fast to short-circuit inspections by United Nations See more...

By A on The final judgment: Iraq had no WMD when war began... on 10/7/04

China's People's Liberation Army moved more than 30,000 troops to areas along the Yalu River, which serves as the country's border with North Korea, earlier this month, the Sankei Shimbun said Thursday, quoting a source close to Japanese and Chinese relations. The source was quoted as saying the move is a prelude to a major drill or an arrangement to stem the inflow of a rising number of North Koreans at the border, according to the newspaper. It said, quoting another source, the North Korean army has dispatched elite forces along the river in response to China's move.

By A on The North Korean Human Rights Act of 2004 (USA) on 10/7/04

US tapped Chirac's phones during Iraq wrangle, says book A new book examining the antagonistic relationship between Presidents Jacques Chirac and George W. Bush claims the United States bugged the French leader's telephone to find out his moves in opposition to the Iraq War. American surveillance listens in to what happens in the privacy of the Elysee Palace (Chirac's offices), according to several French sources in the military and intelligence fields, the book, Chirac Contre Bush: L'Autre Guerre (Chirac Against Bush: The Other War), said. Released today, the work by French newspaper journalists Henri Vernet and Thomas Cantaloube said that an unidentified former senior French military official found out about the bugging during a Washington lunch with a Bush administration official. The relationship between your President and ours is irreparable on the personal level.